Allegri: Juve must improve

byDavidonJanuary 7, 2015

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri hopes Tuesday’s draw against Inter Milan does not come back to haunt them. Mauro Icardi’s second-half equaliser handed Inter Milan a deserved point after Carlos Tevez had given Juve an early lead.

“It’s a shame we weren’t able to win our first match of 2015,” Allegri told his club’s official website. “We knew how difficult the game would be, but we put in one of our best performances of the season in the first 45 minutes, creating a great deal and not allowing them a shot on goal.

“However, we lost our way a bit before Inter’s goal, something that should not have happened. When we make mistakes we lose our calm.

“We were too static when moving the ball around in the second half, while in the first half the midfielders made themselves difficult to pick up. We must improve and manage to maintain our level of display for the entire game, not just 50 minutes.”

The outcome in Turin, Juve’s third draw in their last four league games, allowed I Bianconeri to climb one point clear of Roma at the top of the Serie A standings. Roma had closed the gap on Juve with a 1-0 triumph at Udinese on Tuesday.

“It’s not the first time this season that Roma are one point behind us,” Allegri said. “We expect them to be in the battle for the scudetto until the end. But this should not make us lose our serenity.”

Juve travel to the San Paolo stadium on Sunday to face Napoli while Roma host Lazio in the Eternal City derby this weekend.